Of course, $60,000 is no small investment, even if you earn a salary while studying. Given this cost, why do those interested in data science pursue a master’s degree? In short, whether you’re looking to transition careers or advance your career, a data science master’s degree opens the opportunity to pull a salary that many decide is a sufficient return on the up-front cost of education. We’ll dive into each group in turn.
Career transition
Many who transition into data science are dissatisfied with their current earning potential. Perhaps they are in a low-paying industry or feel blocked by their management, and there is no easy way to move laterally to another company. Provided they hold a bachelor’s degree, even if in an unrelated social sciences or humanities field, the good news is that many can gain admission into a data science master’s program and slingshot themselves onto a higher-earning career path. Many data science programs provide resources like pre-program computer science and mathematics courses to ease these kinds of transitions.
Career advancement
For those already in the broader field of analytics — maybe they are working as a junior data analyst, business analyst, or data scientist — a data science master’s can allow them to apply to data science jobs that offer a higher salary and more responsibility. In fact, for senior data scientist positions or executive positions like analytics manager or chief information officer, many companies list a master’s in data science or a related field as a prerequisite in job descriptions. In reality, however, it’s a prerequisite for most data science jobs: over two-thirds of data scientists surveyed in a recent Burtch Works study reported holding a master’s degree.
But how much more can you earn after a data science master’s degree? We’ll dive into that next.
What’s a typical data science master’s salary?
Given that the majority of data scientists hold a master’s degree of some sort, it can be difficult to pin down exactly the average data science salary for a holder of the degree: Burtch Works’ estimate for the median base salary of a level 1 individual contributor data scientist holding a master’s degree ($90,000), for example, is the same as its estimate of median salary not controlling for education.
The takeaway? If you want to earn a data scientist salary, you’ll likely need to get a master’s degree at some point. But does this make financial sense? While a $90,000 base salary might not seem like much compared to an upfront cost of $60,000 and potential temporary loss of income, it’s crucial to remember that after earning your master’s degree, if things go well, you’ll be able to pull this kind of base salary every year until you retire.
Moreover, this is just an estimate of a base salary for the lowest data scientist level. In reality, your total compensation would likely be higher once you factor in bonus, benefits, equity compensation, and growth potential. Burtch Works’ estimate for the base salary of a level 3 individual contributor holding a master’s degree grows to $140,000, for example, and the median base salary for a data science or data analytics manager holding a master’s degree starts at $150,000, with a level 3 manager earning $260,000.
It’s worth noting again that a data science master’s doesn’t only prepare you for a career as a data scientist: with the training you get at graduate school, you gain the skills to feasibly apply to machine learning engineer, data engineer, data architect, and senior business analyst roles, either right out of school or down the road. As with data science, the salaries in these positions are extremely high. For ease of comparison, we’ve used data from Salary.com below.
To learn more about these roles, check out our relevant guides:
The bottom line: is a master’s in data science worth it?
We’ve explored what you’ll learn in a data science master’s program, the reasons for pursuing a graduate degree in data science, the costs associated with doing so, and the range of salaries master’s degree holders in data science have access to.
So, is it worth it? Ultimately, you’ll have to decide whether you have sufficient aptitude for computer science and advanced mathematics to perform well. Can you build a professional network to maximize your chances of getting a high-paying job? Do you have the cash to make the up-front investment, or are you willing to finance your education with loans? If you can answer yes to these questions, then there’s a good chance that pursuing a data science master’s will be worth it for you. If things go well, you can turn a $60,000 one-time cost into a salary offering a return on investment anywhere from 50% to over 300% every year.
How do you maximize your chances of success? The first step is to find a program that will work for you. Many factors contribute to this decision, including the program's cost and modality, alumni's success rates, the requirements and prerequisites for applying students, the location, and the department profile.
To jump-start your program research, we recommend you check out both our guide to data science master’s programs and our guide to online-only data science master’s programs. These guides explain in greater detail what you should expect from a data science master’s and what to look for in a program. We also provide our top picks: programs that we think can best serve students from various backgrounds.
If you’re interested in learning more about a typical data science career path, we have an article that outlines what’s involved in moving from an entry-level or junior data scientist position to a senior data scientist position to, finally, an executive position like chief data officer or chief information officer.
If you’re interested in diving more deeply into landing your first data science job, check out our explainer on how to become a data scientist.
